A Visit to the Old Country

Wiel bleibt Wien
Waltzes of Strauss family, Joseph Lanner and Johann Schrammel
Thomas Christian Ensemble
Dabringhaus und Grimm, MDG 603 1466-2

***

Here's an unusual release. Conjuring images of Old Vienna, the Thomas Christian Ensemble gives us a collection of polkas and waltzes from the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Thomas Christian plays the lead violin for the ensemble, which originally came into existence as the Vienna String Quintet--a standard string quartet plus double bass. It sounds as though most of these pieces were conceived for a small orchestra, but re-orchestrations and transcriptions were common at the time, and it's no stretch for there to be chamber versions of this music.

The performances here sound authentic and apt. Tempi are spirited, and the musicians play like a well-oiled machine. I have a number of recordings from D&G, and they're always wonderfully engineered; this is no exception.

It's wandering a bit afield from my normal mode, but this is light and high-spirited music, and it's a welcome diversion.

From Deep Within The Baroque

Buxtehude: Seven Trio Sonatas Op. 2
Naxos 8.557249
John Holloway, Violin / Jaap ter Linden, Viola da gamba / Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Harpsichord

(Recorded in February and September of 1994, re-released in 2005)

***

Dieterich Buxtehude (1637-1707) is known to non-organists as a predecessor and mentor of J.S. Bach. To organists, Buxtehude sits next to Bach as one of the instrument's greatest composers. In 1705, when Bach was not yet 20 and Buxtehude only a couple years from his death, Bach made the trek from Arnstadt to Lubeck to observe and study with Buxtehude. He intended to be away from his post for two weeks, but ended up being so enthralled by what he found in Lubeck that he stayed away for three months, returning (as we might expect) to a hornet's nest of disapproval from his employer.

Buxtehude's organ compositions are the embodiment of the so-called stylus phantasticus, a style that alternated extroverted virtuosic passages with quieter, meditative writing. Themes were introduced and developed and then discarded, often several themes in each piece. His multi-part toccatas were a model for J.S. Bach, but Bach typically did his own thing with this newfound knowledge. Though Bach stands now as the end of a musical era, in his youth he was already moving beyond his teachers, and we can hear the progression. To our present-day ears Buxtehude still has a touch of the antique about his writing while Bach seems musically completely modern. Still, Buxtehude was the brightest light of his day, and referring to him now as "Bach Lite" is utterly incorrect. Many of his chorale treatments for organ are at least the equal to most of Bach's similar output.

If Buxtehude is not universally known for his organ works, his other compositions--operas and cantatas, music for voice, and harpsichord works--are practically unknown. There are a few chamber works as well, and it is this genre which the present disc explores, seven trio sonatas, Op. 2, scored for violin, viola da gamba and harpsichord.

Even being quite familiar with Buxtehude's organ compositions, I confess I do not hear Buxtehude's voice in this chamber music. It's all quite pleasant and reminds me of Pachelbel or some Locatelli chamber works I have, but I wouldn't have pegged it as Buxtehude. Because I don't listen to a great deal of chamber music, maybe it's my ear that's lacking; but this music lacks the stamp of individuality which Buxtehude's organ music has in spades. There is a courtly aspect to these pieces, a sense of high-class leisure and of educated musicians experimenting with what were then the latest sounds.

The music is expertly played here on period instruments, and as always Naxos gives us an exemplary recording: they capture the room well, and provide a virtually silent background.